Catholic Public Domain Version

1 Kings 8:25-44 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

25. Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, fulfill, for your servant David, my father, that which you spoke to him, saying, 'There shall not be taken away from you a man before me, who may sit upon the throne of Israel, if only your sons will guard their way, so that they walk before me, just as you have walked in my sight.'

26. And now, O Lord God of Israel, establish your words, which you spoke to your servant David, my father.

27. Is it, then, to be understood that truly God would dwell upon the earth? For if heaven, and the heavens of heavens, are not able to contain you, how much less this house, which I have built?

28. Yet look with favor upon the prayer of your servant and upon his petitions, O Lord, my God. Listen to the hymn and the prayer, which your servant prays before you this day,

29. so that your eyes may be open over this house, night and day, over the house about which you said, 'My name shall be there,' so that you may heed the prayer that your servant is praying in this place to you.

30. So may you heed the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel, whatever they will pray for in this place, and so may you heed them in your dwelling place in heaven. And when you heed, you will be gracious.

31. But if any man sins against his neighbor, and he has any kind of an oath by which he is bound, and he arrives because of the oath, before your altar in your house,

32. you will hear in heaven, and you will act and judge your servants, condemning the impious, and repaying his own way upon his own head, but justifying the just, and rewarding him in accord with his justice.

33. And if your people Israel will have fled from their enemies, because they have sinned against you, and doing penance and confessing to your name, shall arrive and pray and petition you in this house,

34. listen in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and lead them back to the land, which you gave to their fathers.

35. And if the heavens have closed, so that there is no rain, because of their sins, and they, praying in this place, shall do penance to your name, and shall be converted from their sins, by occasion of their afflictions,

36. hear them from heaven, and forgive the sins of your servants and of your people Israel. And reveal to them the good way, along which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as a possession.

37. Then, if famine rises over the land, or pestilence, or corrupt air, or blight, or locust, or mildew, or if their enemy afflicts them, besieging the gates, or any harm or infirmity,

38. or whatever curse or divine intervention may happen to any man among your people Israel, if anyone understands, having been wounded in his heart, and if he will have extended his hands in this house,

39. you will hear in heaven, in your dwelling place, and you will forgive. And you will act so that you give to each one in accord with his own ways, just as you see in his heart, for you alone know the heart of all the sons of men.

40. So may they fear you, all the days that they live upon the face of the land, which you have given to our fathers.

41. Moreover, the foreigner too, who is not of your people Israel, when he will have arrived from a distant land because of your name, for they shall hear about your great name, and your strong hand,

42. and your outstretched arm everywhere: so when he arrives and prays in this place,

43. you will listen in heaven, in the firmament of your dwelling place. And you will do all the things, for which that foreigner will have called upon you. So may all the peoples of the earth learn to fear your name, just as your people Israel do. And so may they show that your name has been invoked over this house, which I have built.

44. And if your people have gone out to war against their enemies, along whatever way you will send them, they shall pray to you in the direction of the city, which you have chosen, and toward the house, which I have built to your name.